Pallet for shipping sheet material



oct. 2o, 1959 6.1...MQRR'1S 2,909,350

4 PALLET FOR SHIPPING SHEET MATERIAL Filed Jan. 13, 1955 924 INVENTOR.

GEORGE L. MORRIS.

BY I

United States Patent O 2,909,350 PALLET FOR SHIPPING SHEET MATERIAL George L. Morris, Winchendon, Mass., assignor of onehalf to Millard R. Hurst, Hamilton, Ohio Application January 13, 1955, Serial No. 481,660

i1 Claim. (Cl. 248-120) This invention relates to pallets on which paper or other similar sheet material may be transported in flat condition.

The usual shipping units or packages of such flat sheet material are `of substantial thickness and of very considerable weight, and it is customary to provide a strong and rigid support or pallet to underlie and support the paper sheets. The surface area of this pallet is preferably substantially the same as the sheets to be transported and should not be substantially larger than the sheets. Also, the different shipping units vary greatly in width and length.

Pallets as heretofore used have commonly been of wood and of fixed size, and they have been found too heavy and bulky to warrant return shipment of the pallet. Consequently, the shipping pallet has been included as part of the cost of each shipment and has substantially increased the cost of the unit of paper.

It is the general object of my inventionto provide a pallet which may be conveniently manufactured of sheet metal and which will be light in weight and well adapted to be telescoped for return shipment.

My invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

A preferred form of the invention 4is shown in the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of my improved pallet;

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional front elevation, taken along the line 2 2 in Fig. 1 and on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional elevation, taken along the line 3--3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, taken along the line 4--4 in Fig. 1 and further enlarged;

Fig. 5 is a detail section on the line 5-5 in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a partial iront elevation, looking in the direction of the arrow 6 in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, my improved pallet comprises four sheet-metal corner sections or units 10, 11, 12 and 14, together with telescoping longitudinal con necting bars 16 and 17, and telescoping transverse connecting bars 18 and 18a.

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The corner units 10 and 14 are duplicates, and the corner units 11 and 12 are also duplicates. All four units are identical, except that the two sets of units are right-hand and left-hand respectively.

Referring particularly to the corner unit 10, this unit 10 is preferably formed from a single piece of relatively heavy sheet steel or other sheet metal, with a rectangular flat body portion 20 and with end flanges 21 and 22 and side flanges 24 and 25. The center part 20a (Fig. 5) of the body portion 20 may be slightly depressed for stilness.

The cross members 16 are also of sheet metal and are preferably of the angular section shown in Fig. 5, and the end portions 24 of the corner units are recurved at their extreme bottom edges as indicated at 21a in Fig. 5. They are also provided with offset ears 30 which act as guides for the members 16 and which prevent displacement thereof. The ears are struck out of the body portion 20. v

The connecting members 17 and 18 (Figs. 2 and 3) are preferably at strips or bars of sheet metal and slide in runways in the corner pieces formed by bending an edge portion down and under as indicated at 40 in Fig. 3

and by providing offset ears '41 as previously described. A

At the inside angles of the corner pieces, provision is made to slidably receive the adjacent ends of the two parts 17 and 18. The bars 17 commonly slide above the bars 18, as shown in Fig. 4.

It is desirable to provide each pallet with feet to support it in a sumciently raised position to admit the arms of a fork lift. Such feet may take the form shown in Fig. 6, with each foot comprising a loop 50 of heavy rod formed in a wide V shape and welded to the side edge portion 24 of each corner section as 10. The wide V shape permits perfect nesting.

Stops 52 (Fig. 1) limit separation of the corner units.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

A metal shipping pallet comprising four rectangular and open rigid corner frame units, each of substantial area and each having two spaced side-supporting members and two spaced end-supporting members, a pair of spaced rigid longitudinal cross-bars mounted between each pair of units and in spaced and telescoping relation thereto, and a pair of spaced rigid transverse cross-bars mounted between each pair of corner units and in telescoping relation therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 172,511 Simpson lan. 18, 1876 2,405,535 Weiss Aug. 6, 1946 2,664,258 Lanier Dec. 29, 1953 2,739,776 Terando Mar. 27, 1956y 2,781,184 Averill Feb. 12, 1957 

